'Diablo 3': New Game Director Could Steer Series Into Dark, Gothic, Loot-Finding Direction Again

John Mosqueira has been hired by Blizzard Entertainment as the new game director for "Diablo 3", and his passionate past with the game has fans excited about its future. Mosqueira took to the game's website to write an letter introducing himself, talking about his experience with the original "Diablo" way back in 1996 and describing what he thought was so appealing about the game all those years ago.

"While the game's dark, gothic setting hooked me, it was the intense, fast-paced action gameplay and the thrill of finding awesome loot that kept me coming back for years after," Mosqueira said.

This guy actually gets it. We're thrilled that this game director actually has feelings shared by tens of thousands of disillusioned "Diablo" fans, who even created and signed a petition expressing that very sentiment. That petition was an expression of passion stemming from years of love and investment from a loyal fanbase -- passion that many feel Blizzard largely ignored.

So what does this new hire mean for "Diablo 3" overall? This line from Mosqueira's letter seems to suggest that "Diablo 3" will continue to get a healthy amount of attention from Blizzard: "We don't just ship a game and leave it at that; we make sure that it grows and evolves after launch. In the year since Diablo III launched, we've made good strides, but there are still things we can improve and new surprises in store for everyone."

That's great news. It sounds like "Diablo 3" will get regular content updates and refreshes in the form of patches, despite Blizzard's focus on many other projects, including the recently delayed project codenamed "Titan." But what changes could come in these patches? Mosqueira delves into one area that could be addressed: economics.

"As Travis mentioned earlier, itemization is one of our big focuses for Diablo III moving forward. We want items to feel more meaningful, and we want players to be excited about the next loot drop. Our goal is to make the loot experience more enjoyable for ALL players. This includes reducing the amount of loot that drops while improving the overall quality, introducing targeted Legendaries, and giving players ways to directly customize their character's armor — both visually and mechanically. We're also looking into ways to reduce the impact of the Auction House. While we think the feature does provide a lot of value, it shouldn’t feel like the end-all-be-all force driving character progression."

Items feel more meaningful? Excited about the next loot drop? Reduce the impact of the Auction House?! Preach, preach, preach! This guy is talking about fixing everything we don't like about "Diablo 3," and he's addressing every single problem we feel the game has, point for point. We haven't been this excited for anything "Diablo"-related since the days leading up to the release of "Diablo 3". With Blizzard's hiring of John Mosqueira, we can't help but have renewed hope for a series that's cherished by so many.

What do you think of Blizzard's hiring of John Mosqueira? What do you think of the letter he wrote? Does he address any issues that you're concerned about? Does he fail to address any significant "Diablo 3" problems? Sound off in the comments below.